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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Jaywalkers, speeders ticketed in safety push

By Rod Ohira
Advertiser Staff Writer

Honolulu police cited 362 jaywalkers and 193 speeding motorists on surface streets over a six-day period last week as part of the department's pedestrian-safety campaign.

"Jaywalking and speeding is a deadly mixture — the behavior that needs to be changed," said Lt. Jerry Wojcik, the pedestrian-safety campaign coordinator.

Since the enforcement phases of the campaign started on March 6, police have cited 1,550 motorists for speeding on roadways heavily used by pedestrians.

During the same period, police issued 1,759 jaywalking citations and 256 warnings. No warnings were issued last week — just jaywalking tickets.

Motorists are being cited for noncompliance with the speed limit, speeding, excessive speeding, failure to yield to pedestrians and illegal parking in a manner that blocks the roadway or sidewalk path for pedestrians.

In addition to jaywalking, pedestrian violations include entering the roadway on a red light, ignoring the "don't walk" signal, disobeying traffic devices such as the red flashing hand (don't cross) signal, and walking or running into the path of a vehicle.

Fines for pedestrians range from $70 to $80, and $97 to $107 for motorists.

In all categories from March 6 through Saturday, police issued 6,379 citations and 801 warnings to pedestrians and motorists. Ten of O'ahu's 11 pedestrian deaths occurred before the campaign started.

Reach Rod Ohira at rohira@honoluluadvertiser.com.